Process for refining organic matter used as manure



June 19, 1923. 1,459,059

, H. KRANTZ PROCESS FOR REFINING ORGANIC MATTER USED AS MANURE Filed July 5, 192g U:LHHHHHHHHHH V I v I 10 r1 INVENIOR A r flmmnnn k i Patentedilune 19, 1923. i

' UNITED STAT ATENT'OF F I'CE.

HERMANN KRANTZ, OF MEMMINGEN, GERMANY.

PROCESS FOR REFININGORGANIC MATTER USED AS MANURE.

Application filed July 3,

i To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMANN KRANTZ, a citizen of Germany, residing at Memmingen,

.Bayern, Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Process for Refinin Organic Matter Used as Manure; an I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

. It was hitherto quite usual to store farmyard manure without subjecting it to any kind of treatment from its origin to the time it was spread on the soil. Under the best of circumstances it was spread out on the manure enclosure after being removed from the stable, and cattle were then allowed to tread on it. This was done for storage purposes, but had as a result that the plant nutrients in the manure were more or less wasted. For instance, almost a third of the original proportion'of nitrogen was lost on the dung-heap and only a quarter of the re. maining two-thirds brought on the field was recovered in the form of increased field production. The total loss of nitrogen was thus considerable, and so was. that of carbon; the loss of valuable ashes, although smaller to an extent, was nevertheless very important.

' The 'main reason for these. losses (and,

l more particularly for the important losses agricultural or similar purposes;

The object of this invention is 'to turn to better account the plant nutrients contalned in farm ard-manure (carbon and nitrogen vfirst an foremost) by suitablytreating the said manure in the manure enclosure or in:

any other storage place in ,view of its fu ture use. In other words, the invention aims at refining the material. 1

According to the invention themanure is i922. Serial No. 572,599.

first arranged in looselayers and fermentation is regulated by keepin a uniform degree of humidity therein. 0 that end, and according to the condition of the material, dry organic matter such as potato peelings, chaff, dry weeds, and if necessary thickstemmed plant refuse or a watery liquid is added thereto. This fermentation is somewhat similar to that set up, according to known processes, in compressed fodder, but is very different in some important details and sometimes of an opposite kind. The

purposes are indeed very different since this invention aims at producing manure easily assimilated by the soil and not at preserving fodder. The striking differences in details consist in that the decomposition of albuminoid substances is facilitated to form amides and the formation of acids is facilitated to bind the ammonia and split up the ash parts, while in the preservation of fodder, albumin is retained and the for- I,

mation of acid excluded. The liquid or juice produced by fermentation has. a great oozing uice. This juice is produced in the invention in order to be duly treated and used timely, whereas in the ordinary way the greatest part thereof soaks uselessly' in the soil of the field. The invention takes into account the hithertounheeded fact that the greatest part of the total loss of carbon and nitrogen in manure takes place in the manured soil in which wild fermentation is proceeding, so that certain advantages of fermentation are lost to the soil. According to-the invention, certain stages of the fermentation vof farmyard.

manure are brought under control in order not onlyto limit the above-mentioned losses as much as possible but also-to provide the vegetable mould or black earth witha good proportion of chemicallycombustible substances (humus). In other words, the invention tends to increase the power of the S01 The material is loosely. Stratified tosui'gply the fermentation agents, with a su cient quantity of air, that is to say of ox gen, 7 in order that their growth may be rapi and I that their work may be uniformly done in a short time. They are thus caused to work economically with, regard 'to the nurture they consume. According to this invention;

the main fermentation is completed within less than a week while the hitherto known 80 oozing or trickling power and-was termed methods of storing manure yielded after months but an imperfectly putrefied fermented material. Shields (Figure 1) or grates (Figure 2) and the like are used in refining farmyard manure when the dungheap reaches a certain height'andwhen the material 'is heavy in order to prevent an excessive weight from acting on the said material and to provide a uniform loos-e stratification. As a rule the material is not mensions of the heaps must be such that the outer layer is as small as possible-relatively to the whole contents. the height being limited by the fact that the weight of the upper layers isnot to compress the material too much and thus exclude air therefrom. In order to keep up the correct fermentation temperature the proportion between the outer layer and the total contents .is to be carefully observed for the purpose of lowering as much as possible the cooling action of the limiting faces as produced by difi'usion, convection, solar radiation, rain, hoarfrost andthe like. I

The fermentation is supervised by chemical analysis, testing the buoyancy of the material and taking the temperaturein each heap;-the fermentation is modified according to the results or readings obtained. After the suitable temperature is obtained (namely 3040 C. for tepid fermentation, 40-55 C. for warm fermentation and 55.65 C. forhot fermentation) and after the correct point of decomposition is reached, the material is pressed in order to prevent further fermentation b any fermentation stimu ants. The material may be trampled down, mechanically pressed or further quantities of manure may be piled upon it. The loss of heat of the said material is to be avoided as much aspossible in order that it may be kept at a high temperature to loosen its fibrous structure.

The loosening of the fibrous structure is connected with a modification of'the chemically combustible organic matter towards conversion 'into peat and fine division, the

manuring powenbein thus increased. Consequently a considera le ortion of the material is rendered assimi able for the bacteria of ,the soil and roots ofplants before the said material is brought into the field.

At the sametime the so their tendencyto under 0 further decomposition so that the material is rendered more stable. The above-described fermentation excluding air and which is duly prepared, quickly carried out, continuously supervised and suitably regulated, acts upon the farmyard manure before it is applied to the soil, and under very. economical conditions, especially as. regards carbon and the nitrogen combined therewith. The refining of the material thus obtained mainly consists in that the refined manure is superior (as regards initial action and durability) to farmyard manure which, starting from exactly the same initial material, is treated in the ordinary way.

Further experiments have shown the following:

- The material may be arranged for fermentation pur oses so that the walls of the heaps are inc ined to .the vertical for the purpose of rendering the heap safer and for producing a gradually increased pressure in the band layers. Thus the initially made heaps for instance may be in the shape of a truncated pyramid (see Figure 3), further material being thenplaced in the intermediate space. 6 and acting as a wedge. The further heaping up may be made so that dams are first formed (see Figure-4) and the intermediate space d is filled with wedge-like structures.

Further material is heaped on the pressed heaps; thus if for instance the fermentation proceeds slowlyowing to meteorological conditions, a greater number of units of area are taken u 1 by the. material within the said period 0- time and with the supply remaining the same than if the fermentation were proceeding quicker. In the methods hitherto used, the manure was spread over the usual area of the manure enclosure with a complete disregard of loosening the layers as much as possible so that fresh manure was indiscriminately heaped on the other which very often had not sufficiently fermented, the lower la ers being therefore pressed prematurely, the pressing being increase by the weight of the attendant spreading out the material. Acoordingto this invention of course, any premature loading of the material arranged in looselayers storage. will be felt less acutely than hitha erto.

made as high as possible in as short a period of time as possi 1e by further heaping up In principle, however, the heaps must be I fresh material on the pressed heaps by repeating the above-described o erations. The methods hitherto known are imited to a piling up of farmyard manure to a mans height and even then very seldom in thin layers, so that a comparatively very considerable area is required, or owing to lack of space the material is dealt with regardless of the correct conditions required.-

It results from the above that the piling up in height of the farmyard manure to be refined involves the following advantages: better utilization of the 1 available area, smaller surface losses of the valuable fermenting material, higher average pressure on the same and better absorption of the oozing juices. The general heaping up is preferabl carried out step by step.

The fo lowing steps may be taken to accelerate fermentation: The arrangement of a grate under the first layer of the material in order to prevent the oozing juices and other liquids from bein dammed up, as. these liquids detrimentafiy mentation by their high specific heat and by preventing the air from reaching the material. The heats in which fermentation is proceeding may be covered on their sides and at the top with light protective covering means for the purpose of reducing losses of heat or the like and for protecting the said material from. meteorological and other influences.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is 1..A process for refining farmyard manure, household and town refuse and the affect the fer like which consists in heapin the material in loose layers to allow a rapi fermentation thereof and subjecting the material to pressure only to check the fermentation after the fermentation has been substantially completed.

2. A process for refinin farmyard manure, household or town reTuse and the like as set forth in claim 1 in which the humidity of the material at the initial stage is regulated as required.

3. A process for refining farmyard manure, household and town refuse and the like" as set forth in claim 1 wherein the fermentation is substantially continuously controlled by the aid-of thermometric observation to keep the temperature of the material from -30 to 40 C. for tepid fermentation and 40 to C. for hot fermentation.

4. A process for refining farmyard manure, household refuse and the like which consists in successively heaping the material in loose layers toallow rapid fermentation thereof, and thereafter successively placing additional outer layers of said material in loosely piled condition upon the preceding layer when the fermentation of said precedin layer has been substantially complete whereb the ressure of said outer layer will checli the firmentation of the inner layer while the fermentation of the outer layer is proceedin i In testimony whereo I afiix my signature.

H. KRANTZ. Witnesses:

Annxrs Pmnur orr, A. C. HOUGHTON. 

